Mélanie Englebin to close restaurant Cecila in August as she looks for restaurant with larger kitchen

Mélanie Englebin, the chef of Brussels restaurant Cecila has decided to close her restaurant at the end of August. The young chef who was awarded the Gault & Millau 2017 Young chef of the year for Brussels explained that there were various reasons for the closure of this restaurant. ” It is true that the pedestrianisation of the Brussels centre has made it difficult for a gastronomic restaurant to do well in central Brussels but this is not the only reason why I have decided to close Cecila.”

“In the four years since I have opened Cecila, my cuisine has evolved and I know exactly what I want. I need a restaurant with a larger kitchen, with a bigger dining room in a house that has character like at Cecila. I also need a terrace or garden,” she said.

Leaving the current location will enable the young chef to create the restaurant of her dreams enabling her to continue her road to cook with great produce and discovering new perfumes and flavour combinations.

Just before she closes the restaurant, Mélanie will be preparing a menu that is composed of her favourite dishes that she has cooked at the restaurant over the past few years. During the months of August she will be cooking these specials. “I could not close the restaurant without having cooked them again,” she said. The last service at Cecila will be on Saturday 26 August.

Mélanie has worked together with some of Belgium’s great chefs before opening Cecila. She worked for Pascal Devalkeneer at Chalet de la Forêt, Evan Triantopoulos at Gril aux Herbs d’Evan and with Yves Mattagne at Sea Grill as sous chef. She then moved to London where she worked at The Green House and at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon before moving to the Four Seasons in Bora Bora where she perfected her experience cooking fish.

Guided by her mentor Yves Mattagne and also thanks to the experience gained, the young chef decided to open her restaurant in 2013 in central Brussels just off the Grand Place. She has also worked in London and Bora Bora.